While this newspaper has published a list of the top 10 news stories of 2008, here is the first half of a list of eight big stories in '08 that didn't necessarily occur with a defining event, but have had consequences:

A RACE FOR THE RECORD #- The biggest story this year may be how much a non-story that Auburn City Hall has become after years of controversies and shout-outs that lengthened meetings without seeming purpose. Council meetings, led by new mayor Michael D. Quill, have gone from hours to often minutes. The downside, however, can be a tendency to rubber stamp items for the sake of speed or to overly rely on staff instead of having healthy debates.

ON THE NOSE #- In April, Cayuga County Manager Wayne Allen was slammed by some for his seemingly dire financial predictions during the State of the County speech. In hindsight, if he was wrong about anything, it was the severity that we have seen in the last five months with Wall Street's meltdown. Odder yet, in light of all this, the Legislature has increased spending for 2009, not cut it, as times demand.

A STAMP OF APPROVAL #- Elections for trustees for Seymour Library usually generate only a handful of dedicated voters who fill out paper ballots. This month's large turnout of voters - more than 400 - was a clear indication that this was no ordinary election. The re-election of trustee Jill Fandrich to represent Auburn and the election of Susan Ahner of Sennett pushed back the first challenges to changes being made at the library under the leadership of Sheila Mikkelson, who took over last year from Stephen Erskine, who had led the library for decades. The overwhelming victories by Ahner and Fandrich were due to more than great campaigning, they were a stamp of approval for Mikkelson's major changes at the library.

IF IT WASN'T FOR #- Congressman Michael Arcuri should have easily won re-election to a second term, especially with New York going Democratic and Barack Obama at the top of the ticket. So it was more than a little stunning to see that his Republican challenger, Richard Hanna made it a close race. In the end, Cayuga County most likely gave the congressman his victory, winning the county by 3,334 votes, more than half of his slim 6,396 margin. The big question is whether Cayuga County will be rewarded by Arcuri with federal grants or whether he'll continue to take this county for granted and seek spending for areas where he did poorly, trying to strengthen his support for 2010?

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com